The Giant Leap
Why Space Is the Next Frontier in the Evolution of Life
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- $349.00
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- $349.00
Descripción editorial
A leading astrobiologist argues that space travel is an evolutionary event at least as important as life’s first journey from sea to land
"The Giant Leap is a detailed and provocative exploration of what it means for life as we know it to escape the bounds of the only planet where it has ever been." —Sean Carroll, author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
The story of life has always been one of great transitions, of crossing new frontiers. The dawn of life itself is one; so, too, is the first time two cells stuck together rather than drifting apart. And perhaps most dramatic were the moves from the sea to land, land to air. Each transition has witnessed wild storms of innovation, opportunity, and hazard. It might seem that there are no more realms for life to venture. But there is one: space.
In The Giant Leap, astrobiologist Caleb Scharf argues that our journey into space isn’t simply a giant leap for humankind—it’s life’s next great transition, an evolution of evolution itself. Humans and our technology are catalysts for an interplanetary transformation, marking a disruption in the story of life as fundamental as life’s movement from sea to land, and land to sky.
Inspired by Darwin’s account of his journey on the Beagle, and packed with stories from the past, present, and future of space travel, The Giant Leap thrills at both life’s creativity and the marvels of technology that have propelled us into the cosmos. And it offers an awesome glimpse of the grander vistas that wait in the great beyond.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this disappointing account of space exploration, astrobiologist Scharf (The Ascent of Information) posits that it is human nature, pushed by evolutionary pressure, to explore new frontiers, and outer space is the next obvious realm to venture into. Throughout, Scharf uses Charles Darwin's voyage on the Beagle to survey the shores of South America as a metaphor for humanity's move into space, explaining that the insights Darwin gained about evolution later allowed humans to alter that process, including through gene-editing tools. Journeying off-planet, Scharf argues, would be a similar inflection point that unlocks "new evolutionary opportunities." Scharf also offers a whirlwind history of the scientific developments that led to the U.S. space program, dives into the wide array of manned and unmanned missions sponsored by countries and corporate interests, and details the nature of celestial bodies within the solar system. There's intriguing information throughout, like how oxygen from Earth occasionally makes its way to the moon and how solar storms can be so extreme that had an astronaut been on the moon in August 1972, he would have received a deadly dose of radiation. Despite such captivating details, Scharf fails to meld them into a coherent whole. The result will leave readers feeling lost.
